Media musings and 'that painting'

The controversial painting of the president "on view" so to speak, has just about everyone talking, so much so that in the smoke of battle it's easy to lose sight of other issues that are perhaps more demanding of our attention. So, while the ANC goes to court today in an effort to have the painting removed from view, Gwede Mantashe says the ANC is basically OK with the Press Freedom Commission report issued yesterday, but he has some thoughts on issues such as "lazy" journalists... Oh, and also "that painting".

Beware... fraudsters are on the prowl and SANParks has issued a warning to the public of fraudsters - including online forums - that claim to represent the South African National Parks (SANParks) and in particular the KNP "by offering customer care facilities that discuss conservation and tourism-related matters for guests."

Still on the crime front, Acting Public Service and Administration Minister Mildred Oliphant has assured parliament - and hence us - that fighting corruption within government remains a priority. That's good; here's hoping the Public Service Anti-Corruption Unit (PSACU) will be successful, but given the scale of corruption, and outright theft of our tax monies, the PSACU has an uphill battle ahead of it.

Finally, our very own "bad boy" on the motoring scene, Henrie Geyser, has some good things to say about the Mercedes Benz C-Class Coupé C63 AMG. Henrie glowingly describes it as a scorcher Merc with bad-boy tattoos, with "looks and power in one package" and a "wild child"; again, we could be talking about Henrie. Or not...

Top stories

IT & Telecommunications

Dimension Data has been honoured by Cisco at its 2012 Partner Summit with the 2011 Europe, Middle East, Africa and Russia (EMEAR) Partner of the Year. Of significance is the fact that Dimension Data South Africa also won the Global Partner of the Year award. Cisco unveiled the winners at its annual channel partner conference held recently in San Diego, California. Read more >>

Internet

The African internet has taken massive strides forward over the past three years, thanks to the massive investments telecommunications operators have made in new terrestrial and submarine cables. However, there is still a lot of hard work to be done before internet services are accessible and affordable to every person on the continent. Read more >>

The telecommunications industry has the potential to be one of the engines driving South Africa's GDP growth past six percent per year, but only if strong competition is nurtured in the sector. Read more >>

Network

Ruckus Wireless has announced that the company has recently added Comztek to its partner distribution network. Through this agreement, effective March 2012, Comztek will distribute the full range of Ruckus Wireless's products across South Africa, SADC, and East African regions including the Indian Ocean Islands. Read more >>

Considering market dynamics it is no longer viable for the telecommunications sector to push least cost routing (LCR) into the market going forward. In fact, the LCR business model can be considered 'deceased'. Read more >>

[Johan Roux] The evolution to internet protocol (IP)-based networked cameras and video solutions for security surveillance and remote monitoring offers a number of benefits, not least the ability to integrate with existing systems, like access control and building management systems. In combination, these systems offer exponentially more benefits, but putting it all together smartly requires some expertise and forethought. Read more >>

Services

Business Live reports that the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) has called for the "seizure of mines, telecommunications and banks" under a nationalisation plan that it hopes will transform the local economy. Read more >>

[Johan Roux] The evolution to internet protocol (IP) based networked cameras and video solutions for security surveillance and remote monitoring offers a number of benefits, not least the ability to integrate with existing systems, such as Access Control and Building Management Systems (BMS). In combination, these systems offer exponentially more benefits, but putting it all together smartly requires some expertise and forethought. Read more >>

Triple4, the innovative infrastructure solution company, has launched a hosted service designed to give small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) access to enterprise-grade computing - at a monthly fee per seat. Read more >>

In 2010, the South African Post Office consolidated all its information communication technology and electronic-related offerings into a single offering and is now beginning to reap the benefits. Read more >>

Software

The Cloud Africa Summit 2012 will take place on 23 and 24 May 2012 at the Midrand Conference Centre in Johannesburg. Cloud Africa is a new-launch event from the Com World Series, organisers of AfricaCom, a telecoms, media and ICT conference and exhibition. Read more >>

[Sasha Malic] Today's business environment is truly global - and that means it's highly competitive and getting more so as the emerging economies flex their muscles. Cost pressures are unremitting and the demand for uninterrupted services and higher levels of personalised service than ever before has become the norm. Read more >>

Investing in supply chain software for a production, distribution, transport, third party logistics or other supply chain company is without doubt worth the money and the time. Instead of keeping employees doing routine, simple tasks, this type of software suite allows businesses to leverage employees' skills and knowledge to boost the bottom line. Read more >>

Hackers have declared war on Android devices. This is evident with the increasing number of attacks seen in the last month, most recently with the fake versions of the Instagram Android app, which sends background SMS messages to premium rate services, earning its creators revenue. Read more >>

LONDON, UK: With evolving technology, a growing emphasis on a cashless society and a demanding, time-poor culture, products that aim to make consumer payments as easy as possible are rapidly appearing on the market. Read more >>